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Getty Images Trump was playing golf when Joe Biden’s victory was known.
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely present himself as the winner, and why his media allies are going out of their way to try to help him: they don’t want the truth to be known,” the statement said, further indicating that Trump would continue to oppose the announced result through lawsuits, alleging the existence of alleged fraud.
The US Constitution is clear, beyond any doubt, in establishing that the current presidential term ends “at noon on January 20.”
Joe Biden has managed to win in a number of states that secure him more than 270 votes in the Electoral College. So he has the right to hold the presidency for the next four years.
Donald Trump has legal resources and legitimate you can still use to dispute the result of the vote.
But unless a dramatic turn occurs from here to there in the courts and he can prove in the courts the existence of the irregularities in the election that he claims, still without presenting evidence, January 20 is the date on which the current president must step down.
Getty Images What happens if Trump refuses to leave the White House?
Advertised position
Trump was clear throughout the current campaign in warning that he would not accept defeat.
He repeatedly said that he was determined to remain in command, no matter what the electoral authorities said, indicating that the only chance he would lose was if the elections were stolen.
So the country began to discuss what would happen if Trump followed through on his threat and tried to cling to power by force.
A hypothesis even commented on by Joe Biden himself when he was a candidate.
In a televised interview on June 11, comedian Trevor Noah asked Biden if he had thought about the possibility of a losing Trump refusing to vacate the presidential residence.
“Yes, I have thought about it,” Biden responded, adding that he was convinced that in such a situation, the military would be in charge of preventing him from remaining in office and would simply evict him from the White House.
It has also been said that it could be the The Secret Service that could fulfill the eventual task of escorting Trump out of the presidential residence.
That civilian body, in charge of the president’s security, also has the obligation by law to protect all former presidents, and will continue to escort the former president as of January 20.
Getty Images The Secret Service is the one that could fulfill the eventual task of escorting Trump out of the presidential residence.
Since Biden’s electoral advantage became evident and the announcement of his victory seemed imminent, the Secret Service has taken extreme measures to protect the president-elect, effectively beginning to give him a “presidential” security level, despite Trump insisting that the Democrat had been defeated.
The unthinkable scenario?
But at that point it would be necessary to enter to evaluate loyalty to this president of the security forces, as do analysts who seek to understand the situation of any country at a time of institutional instability.
BBC Mundo asked experts if it was feasible for Trump to try to use state security forces to illegally stay in power.
“For a president to abuse the powers of the presidency to stay in office after seemingly losing the election would be harsh and destroy vital norms. But it’s not inconceivable“Professor Dakota Rudesill, an expert in national security legislation and policy, affiliated with Ohio State University in the United States, tells BBC Mundo.
“It would cause great harm to the country, to important principles of civil-military relations, and to global prospects for democracy, “he warns.
However, he clarifies that, in his opinion, the scenario in which Trump could cling to the presidency supported by the security forces is difficult to realize.
“Military personnel swear allegiance to the Constitution, not to the politician currently in office. And who is the highest ranking military man in the country right now, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has repeatedly said that the military will have no role in this election. “
BBC
Rudesill is not alone in asking these questions. Keisha Blaine is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert in the study of social protest movements.
“The mere fact that we have to ask ourselves whether the armed forces will intervene in the election reveals a lot about the sad state of things in our country“, he tells BBC Mundo.
Adds Blaine, “Four years ago most Americans didn’t wonder this. But after seeing Trump deploy federal agents [durante los recientes disturbios] in Portland and Washington in recent months, it’s a serious concern. I don’t think this is a likely scenario, but we can’t rule it out as a serious possibility, considering everything that happened this year. “
Indeed, during the social protests that emerged with the anti-racism movement in the middle of the year, Trump considered mobilizing the military to break up the demonstrations.
On June 5, the newspaper New York Times claimed that General Milley “convinced Trump not to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to mobilize regular troops across the country to suppress protests, a line that several US military officials have said they will not cross, even if the president orders them to. “
In the end, given the refusal of the regular army to be involved, Trump ordered to contain the protests the use of members of the National Guard, who depend on the governors of each state.
Getty Images On June 1, Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accompanied Trump to take a photo with a bible just yards from the White House and amid protests over the death of George Floyd. After a few days, Milley regretted it.
Also involved in containing the protests in Washington, Portland and other cities were members of the non-military security forces reporting to the Ministry of Homeland Security (National security).
So some consider that in a crisis that arose as a result of the elections, Trump would potentially have access to order the deployment of a certain nornumber of non-military armed personnel.
However, assuming that the armed forces would not make themselves available to the political survival of the president, it is difficult to imagine a successful move by Trump to stay in power under those conditions.
Violence while waiting?
Rudesill says he’s concerned about related scenarios.
“I have written about the possibility of President Trump trying to use a Executive Order, or that the Department of Justice controlled by its political allies attempts to issue a ‘directive’, indicating that the Executive Branch must consider Trump as the winner of a disputed election “, the expert tells BBC Mundo, but warns that that would be “totally inappropriate and waterproof”.
“Ordering the army to continue saluting the president beyond the end of his term at noon on January 20 would put the military in an impossible situation,” he says.
Getty ImagesAnalysts say a situation in which the losing candidate in the presidential election refuses to accept the result can lead to “the possibility of serious civil disorder.”
“Half the country and many people around the world would think that the apolitical US military had taken a partisan position. The military should never, never receive that orderRudesill points out.
And without reaching the extreme case of a situation in which the autonomy of the armed forces is put at stake in the face of partisan disputes, others warn that an extension of the current political situation can generate violence in other fields.
A situation in which the losing candidate in the presidential election refuses to accept the outcome certainly leads to “the possibility of serious civil disorder”Keisha Blaine tells BBC Mundo.
The presidential rhetoric “has increased the possibility of protests and even violence,” he argues.
The situation witnessed in different American cities in recent months, of protesters armed to the teeth expressing their support for the president, as well as the appearance in the streets of those same cities of radical opposition groups, are a reminder of the potential for violence that carries with it the current political tension in the United States.
BBC
